“Iron Man 3”

Rating: PG-13

When: Opens Friday

Where: Wide release

Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

★★★

did you know?

According to Reuters, When “Iron Man 3” makes its Chinese debut, it will include top Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and some footage shot inside China — additions aimed at tapping into the country’s lucrative and booming cinema market. It’s also hoped the changes will help ease the film past China’s strict censors.

The end credits of “Iron Man 3” reveal a lot more than the people behind the scenes. The hundreds — perhaps thousands — of names represent the dozens of special effects companies that brought the latest Marvel installment to life and take an excruciatingly long time to scroll up the screen. Densely packed in tiny white text, the credits are almost as dizzying as the over-caffeinated, 3-D action sequences that warrant them.

More telling is the quiet patience with which the previously pumped-up preview audience sat through this endless list. While I’m sure they were appreciative of the whiz-bang dazzle that filled the previous two hours, this bunch wasn’t watching out of gratitude; they were eagerly expecting the short bit of fan bait that was sure to come once the credits petered out. This devotion, perhaps even more so than the films themselves, is what makes the modern-day Marvel universe such a marketing juggernaut (for the record, the addendum is cute, but not worth the wait).

In his third go-round as a solo superhero, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), aka Iron Man, is undergoing an identity crisis as he grapples with the consequence of his brash, carelessness 15 years prior — the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a culturally ambiguous terrorist dead set on teaching the president of the United States (William Sadler) some very public and lethal lessons. It’s a battle of good old-fashioned American machinery and ingenuity against rogue science as the mechanically enhanced Stark faces off with the Mandarin’s genetically enhanced, nearly indestructible army of veteran soldiers. Exactly why the Mandarin is so furious with America is intentionally muddled within the theatrical taunts he delivers through hijacked satellite transmissions, but he does hit upon a few raw nerves from America’s past, as well as the country’s fondness for empty commercialism (irony noted).

While some of the mysterious villain’s attacks are indeed horrific, particularly the attack aboard Air Force One, director Shane Black (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”), taking over the franchise’s directorial duties from Jon Favreau (who reprises his role as Stark’s head of security), contains the threat entirely within Iron Man’s immediate sphere. We never see or hear of the nationwide panic or strain on foreign relations that such attacks most certainly would trigger. The Mandarin is entirely Iron Man’s problem. While this choice lessens the sense of danger, it gives Black and his co-writer Drew Pearce ample opportunity to showcase the natural ease with which Downey creates America’s snarkiest of flawed heroes.

The star gets some worthwhile talent to banter with, including Guy Pearce as a malicious entrepreneur with a crush on Stark’s now live-in girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow, who gets a too brief opportunity to show off her fierce side), Rebecca Hall as a former flame tied to the Mandarin’s rise, and Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes, who proves himself to be an action hero without the aid of an iron suit, or enough screen time (as always seems to be the case with this fine actor).